At past entrants’ requests, we’ve made it possible to save a partially completed entry form and finish it later. This is because we need you to answer all the questions. We need to know about you, your professional background and your target market. We’d also like to receive your marketing plan, budget plan, balance sheets, and so on. So log in as many times as you like. Just make sure we receive your form by 31 July 2012.

Every business plan should be in English. If your entry is not in English, the jury cannot take it into consideration.

Sustainable entrepreneurs all over the world are invited to send in their business plans from May 1st until July 31st 2012 for the sixth edition of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. Entrants are asked to submit detailed business plans. An expert preliminary jury will assess the viability of the entries and select five to eight finalists after 31 July.

The finalists will present their ideas before an international jury of experts and an audience of invited guests on 17 September at the multimedia conference PICNIC ’12 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For the first time in the history of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, three winners will go on to New York, where the jury will announce the winner of the 500,000 EUR grand prize on September 23. This announcement will take place at a dinner hosted by the United Postcode Lotteries in conjunction with the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

Competition open May 1 – July 31 2012

The doors to this international annual competition for social entrepreneurs with CO2 reducing business plans are now open for the sixth time. From May 1st until July 31st, sustainable entrepreneurs can enter their business plans for sustainable, creative and innovative products and services here, on our website. The best business plan will win 500,000 EUR, and an additional 200,000 EUR is available for one or two other promising plans.

Entry

The competition calls on creative, innovative thinkers from around the world to submit business plans for sustainable products and services. Entries should directly reduce CO2 emissions, score highly on design, user-friendliness and quality, and ready to be in the market in two years.

Questions in the entry form vary from “Describe your product or service in a 100 words”, to a complete SWOT analysis. We also encourage participating entrepreneurs to create and record an elevator pitch, a business pitch in 90 seconds. This is a very handy tool to convince the preliminary jury of your entrepreneurial and social spirit, and shouldn’t present a problem for serious entrepreneurs. Upload the pitch to YouTube or Vimeo and post the URL in your entry form.

Jury

Our preliminary jury, chaired by Femke Rotteveel, will read all complete entries from August 1st to August 22nd. They will convene on August 23rd for the jury deliberations. A few days are planned in to ask potential finalists additional questions or clarification. On August 30th, the 5 – 8 finalists will be announced.

PICNIC / New York

The finalists will present their ideas before an international jury of experts and an audience of invited guests on 17 September at the multimedia conference PICNIC ’12 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For the first time in the history of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, three winners will go on to New York, where the jury will announce the winner of the 500,000 EUR grand prize on September 23rd. This announcement will take place at a dinner hosted by the United Postcode Lotteries in conjunction with the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

Successful entrepreneurs
Past winners have enjoyed success with innovative products, thanks in part to publicity and contacts gained through the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. Last year, Nick Christy of Australia won with his Water Recycling Shower. The shower system cuts water and energy use and costs by 70 per cent without compromising on comfort. In 2010, the American Scot Frank won for his low-priced, multi-purpose portable solar collector Solsource. In 2009, Brit Dean Gregory took the prize with The Power Collective’s near-invisible rooftop wind turbines. In 2008, Eben Bayer of the United States won for his natural insulation material Greensulate. And Dutchman Igor Kluin‘s Qbox, a device that helps to enable decentralised energy production, took the prize at the first Challenge in 2007.

History

In December 7th 2006, President Clinton visited the Postcode Lottery World Meeting at the Royal Palace Soestdijk. This is where he spoke on climate change, and when the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge seed was planted in the heads of the people at the Dutch Postcode Lottery.

As President Clinton stated: “The fundamental problem is an entrepreneurial, disorganised, undercapitalised opportunity competing against a highly organised, overcapitalised, old-energy economy that still has many, many people in its grip.” That’s when we decided it would be a good idea to organise an annual competition for people with CO2 reducing ideas that find it hard to find the means and trust to execute their idea.

On 28 and 29 September 2007, the first ever Postcode Lottery Green Challenge was held.

Supporters of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge

Bill Clinton:“I’m pleased that the Postcode Lottery has launched the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge to encourage entrepreneurs to develop new ways to fight one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change.”

Sir Richard Branson (2007 Green Challenge juror): “People aren’t going to stop consuming. Instead, we must offer the consumer a green alternative to bring climate change to a halt. The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is about stimulating the development of these alternatives. The large number of entries demonstrates that awareness of the need to change and the willingness to do something about it are felt worldwide.”

Nick Christy (2011 Green Challenge winner): “Thanks to the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge we are well on the way to developing the world’s most efficient shower. Showers are the second biggest consumer of energy in a house and the largest consumer of drinking water – we can reduce both by 70% and make a real difference to global CO2 emissions and water consumption. Taking part in the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge was one of the best things I have ever done – life changing, eye opening and amazing fun with some of the nicest people you could hope to meet .”

Sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook to read all the latest news and developments.